For the first time Star Refrigeration will display one of their systems at the Chillventa trade show. The 500kW ammonia Neatpump will be installed in a Belgium Emerson compressor factory right after the event. In the run up to Chillventa Dave Pearson, Director of Innovation at Star Refrigeration, shares his thoughts about this major trade show and the latest product news from Star and others.
Chillventa, or IKK as some people still call it means lots of different things to different people. For some it is a chance to seek new suppliers of materials, or a chance to see what new solutions will arrive on the market from compressor or heat exchanger suppliers, or maybe it is also a chance to participate in one of the many seminars and lectures from the various associations connected with the event. For others it is a chance to catch up with life-long friends from various partner companies around the world. Sadly it is also a time to reflect on absent friends such as the great ammonia enthusiast Anders Lindborg who sadly passed away recently.
For Star and me it is all of these but also a daunting opportunity as for the first time the company will have a piece of equipment on display.
For much of the last 42 years, Star Refrigeration Ltd, of the United Kingdom, have been a UK based industrial refrigeration contractor. We haven’t therefore had any “products” as most of our clients have enjoyed our bespoke solutions. Simply put, most of their customers are unique and so they prefer unique solutions that draw on the best of the compressor, heat exchanger, motor and other components available on the open market. Star then assemble these into the most advantageous solution to fulfil their needs. This is still around 80% of our business but we have gradually been offering a wider range of packaged solutions. Whilst the overall solution deployed on site will still almost certainly be unique, the ability to draw on standard modules can in some cases be advantageous.
Aside from packaged chiller solutions using Turbocor compressors with R134a or Ammonia air cooled chillers using Bitzer compressors Star have also developed a range of ammonia freezer and heatpump packages that use the Vilter single screw compressor.
It is one of these ammonia heatpumps, or Neatpumps as we call, them that will be on display at Chillventa.
In the last 4 years since we started developing heatpumps, the range of applications and potential has grown dramatically. With around 9 projects and over 30MW, half of this at 90°C, we have found success in applications as diverse as district heating and cheese! Since our very first project, in a chocolate factory delivering heating and cooling we have honed our existing skills and developed new ones, particularly in understanding how existing heating systems are configured and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Designing a chiller or heatpump is comparatively easy by comparison to the actual deployment. A whole range of factors have to be considered including a detailed assessment in 4 dimensions (space and time) of the heating and cooling needs and how these can be overlapped to define the viability and size of a Neatpump.
Other factors have to be addressed such as economic viability versus simply burning fossil fuel, return on investment, breakeven point vs other demands on capital investment. By contrast, investments in cooling equipment are fundamentally quite simple; “deploy cooling equipment or don’t have a viable cold store/icerink/datacentre/pharmaceutical process”.
Neatpump on display at Emerson booth
The application for the Neatpump that will be on display at Chillventa was typically complex. The Emerson factory in Welkenraedt has an extensive and demanding programme of compressor endurance testing. This results in quite a significant quantity of waste heat being available to harness. There are also several manufacturing processes that require significant volumes of hot water such as machine part washing.
After significant assessment of the particular site requirements, energy costs, and deployment costs, it was established that a 500kW Neatpump would give a reasonable return on investment. Savings well in excess of €100k per annum are achievable from a single unit. Before the unit is installed in Welkenraedt it will be displayed on the Emerson Climate Technologies stand at Chillventa. It left Star’s Glasgow factory last week.
Star at Heat pump event and at “show and tell” on Wednesday
In addition, we will be presenting at the Heat pump event on Wednesday morning (Forum 11, Hall 7) with Philippe Nelissen of Emerson, then supporting a “show and tell” on the Emerson stand at 4pm. I’m delighted that I will also be joined by the team from Vilter who will describe the multi-million dollar test lab they have established at their plant in Cudahay, USA. All in all it looks set to be a busy Chillventa, even if my focus is heating! I hope I manage to squeeze in the time for some of Nuremburg’s legendary sausages. 3,6,9,or 12? Now that is a question!
The best bit about Chillventa is always the unexpected. That person, idea or product that flicks a switch in your mind; shows a new opportunity. I doubt this year will be any different.
Hot on the heels of Chillventa will be ATMOsphere Europe 2012 in November; I’ll definitely be there too.
Dave Pearson
Director of Innovation
Star Refrigeration
For Star and me it is all of these but also a daunting opportunity as for the first time the company will have a piece of equipment on display.
For much of the last 42 years, Star Refrigeration Ltd, of the United Kingdom, have been a UK based industrial refrigeration contractor. We haven’t therefore had any “products” as most of our clients have enjoyed our bespoke solutions. Simply put, most of their customers are unique and so they prefer unique solutions that draw on the best of the compressor, heat exchanger, motor and other components available on the open market. Star then assemble these into the most advantageous solution to fulfil their needs. This is still around 80% of our business but we have gradually been offering a wider range of packaged solutions. Whilst the overall solution deployed on site will still almost certainly be unique, the ability to draw on standard modules can in some cases be advantageous.
Aside from packaged chiller solutions using Turbocor compressors with R134a or Ammonia air cooled chillers using Bitzer compressors Star have also developed a range of ammonia freezer and heatpump packages that use the Vilter single screw compressor.
It is one of these ammonia heatpumps, or Neatpumps as we call, them that will be on display at Chillventa.
In the last 4 years since we started developing heatpumps, the range of applications and potential has grown dramatically. With around 9 projects and over 30MW, half of this at 90°C, we have found success in applications as diverse as district heating and cheese! Since our very first project, in a chocolate factory delivering heating and cooling we have honed our existing skills and developed new ones, particularly in understanding how existing heating systems are configured and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Designing a chiller or heatpump is comparatively easy by comparison to the actual deployment. A whole range of factors have to be considered including a detailed assessment in 4 dimensions (space and time) of the heating and cooling needs and how these can be overlapped to define the viability and size of a Neatpump.
Other factors have to be addressed such as economic viability versus simply burning fossil fuel, return on investment, breakeven point vs other demands on capital investment. By contrast, investments in cooling equipment are fundamentally quite simple; “deploy cooling equipment or don’t have a viable cold store/icerink/datacentre/pharmaceutical process”.
Neatpump on display at Emerson booth
The application for the Neatpump that will be on display at Chillventa was typically complex. The Emerson factory in Welkenraedt has an extensive and demanding programme of compressor endurance testing. This results in quite a significant quantity of waste heat being available to harness. There are also several manufacturing processes that require significant volumes of hot water such as machine part washing.
After significant assessment of the particular site requirements, energy costs, and deployment costs, it was established that a 500kW Neatpump would give a reasonable return on investment. Savings well in excess of €100k per annum are achievable from a single unit. Before the unit is installed in Welkenraedt it will be displayed on the Emerson Climate Technologies stand at Chillventa. It left Star’s Glasgow factory last week.
Star at Heat pump event and at “show and tell” on Wednesday
In addition, we will be presenting at the Heat pump event on Wednesday morning (Forum 11, Hall 7) with Philippe Nelissen of Emerson, then supporting a “show and tell” on the Emerson stand at 4pm. I’m delighted that I will also be joined by the team from Vilter who will describe the multi-million dollar test lab they have established at their plant in Cudahay, USA. All in all it looks set to be a busy Chillventa, even if my focus is heating! I hope I manage to squeeze in the time for some of Nuremburg’s legendary sausages. 3,6,9,or 12? Now that is a question!
The best bit about Chillventa is always the unexpected. That person, idea or product that flicks a switch in your mind; shows a new opportunity. I doubt this year will be any different.
Hot on the heels of Chillventa will be ATMOsphere Europe 2012 in November; I’ll definitely be there too.
Dave Pearson
Director of Innovation
Star Refrigeration
MORE INFORMATION
Oct 04, 2012, 09:48
Related stories
PARTNERS
Sign up to our Newsletter
Fill in the details below
